The Fox and the Primrose
by yiranY
Summary: You won't win, they say. Well, I'll show you how someone can win the Hunger Games without any sponsors. I just need to stop thinking about the two twelve-year-olds that have been reaped this year.
1. Vile

"I refuse the volunteer."

The little girl's steady voice first shocked me when I watched the tape of 12's reaping. She was lucky enough to have someone volunteer for her – just to save her, it seems – yet she refused. She must know that a little girl like her has no chance in these brutal Games. I made sure to remember her name. Primrose Everdeen.

Now that I think carefully of it, though, there's no logical conclusion as to why she would do that. The older girl that volunteered for her, she would have a lot more physical strength. _She_'d have a realistic chance of winning. Not Primrose.

It doesn't matter. She certainly made an impression on the chariots, with the big and buff Peeta Mellark raising her up, both of then enveloped in fire. I'm glad my stylists aren't such idiots to put me in the spotlight. I'd just get marked by the Careers.

Whatever effect she had, she lost it all with a training score of 4. I think Mr Mellark is probably more noticeable. And that big Thresh guy.

Okay, that's enough summary for one single tribute. It's surprising I'm able to finish them all while inside this glass cylinder, waiting to be sent into the arena of the 74th Hunger Games.

The plate is rising. I wave goodbye to my stylist. She's not mean, but she's not nice either. She just does her job. I don't have much feelings towards her, but she did say good luck to me.

My mentors were rubbish. No wonder District 5 doesn't get past the bloodbath much. They don't really provide any substantial advice. I'm probably smarter than them. I bet they can't get 100 percent on tests consistently.

I don't try and not be nervous. The adrenaline will help me run away from the Cornucopia more easily.

What's my plan again? Right, to find some water and then just hide until almost no one's left and then ambush them with a knife that I can surely obtain somehow during the course of the games. I definitely can get enough food; I passed the edible plants test after some practice which got me a 5 in my training. In retrospect I probably should have done nothing and let them give me a 1. But reverse psychology dictates that I would get attention this way.

The plate finally rises to its peak. The sunlight blinds me momentarily but I shake it off. The announcer starts to say "Ladies and…" but I cover ears so it doesn't distract me from my tactical planning. To the left of me is Primrose. Damn, why? Now I might see her killed and get distracted. To my right is the District… well, a minor boy. I can't remember all of them.

There's a forest behind, a lake to the right, and a cliff or steep slope on the other side. The forest clearly can provide the best cover and the best food. I'm close to it, too.

There's some weapons in the middle but I can't handle any of them. I only know how to stick a knife into someone's chest, or even better, back. Maybe some utensils would be helpful but I'm not risking my life for that.

Primrose is wiping her face nervously, and glancing towards me. Wait, not me, behind me. Mr. Mellark is returning a look and motioning for her to go back into the woods. I don't know what's going on between them, but I really have to stop paying attention to them. If I want to win, they have to die, and I'd rather not know them.

I see my District partner to the opposite of me. He doesn't stand a chance either. I stopped all attempts of conversation he made, because it's pretty clear he's not going to make it. Little Rue seems to have a better chance, she got a 7 which is even better than me. She's eyeing a tiny bag right in front of her which she seems intent on taking. I hope she doesn't die taking it.

Stop it! I hate how our minds work. How we are forced to empathise with others when we don't want to. I can't afford to be sad. Crying could mean uncovering my location and therefore my death!

The timer is ticking away fast. There's only 10 seconds. If I die, no one would be sad but my father. He would still get over it, though, because of my brother. He's already nineteen so there's no worries about him getting reaped.

I turn around and face the woods. Primrose does the same. I redirect my vision to the other way so I don't see her.

I'm a fox, huh, Caeser Flickerman? Well I'll show you how a fox can beat all the odds and win the Hunger Games. I think I'm the only one that realises you don't genuinely care for us. That you're as vile as the rest of the Capitol.

The Hunger Games. Hmph. I'll show you all how to subvert them.

And the gong sounds.


	2. Unaware

By the time I hear the sounds of screaming I'm already a good deal into the woods.

Idiots. If they paid attention to the edible plants station in the training centre they wouldn't need to get any food. The Games where tributes starve to death don't play well with the Capitol audience, anyway, so it doesn't really happen.

The fighting sounds gradually get dimmer as the terrain becomes more uneven. I glance backwards for a second and all I see is trees.

And then I see a figure running towards me so I jump into a bush quickly. I peer out and I realise that it's just Primrose. Still, I don't want to get noticed, not even by a little girl. Both of the little girls in this round of Games have big male partners who could both snap my neck in an instant.

After she goes away I head in a different direction. Eventually the only noise I can hear is the sounds of birds and insects from the forest. I've never been in this type of environment before, even if it is simulated by the Capitol.

The problem with my plan is that I don't have a reliable method to find water. I look around in the forest, and come to a willow which has many branches protruding at a low point on its stump. I climb the tree somewhat clumsily and reach the top.

I can see the Cornucopia in the distance, but no other details about it. Everywhere else is just filled with leafy canopies, and there are no signs of ponds or streams. Occasionally I can see some areas where the trees are less dense but nothing underneath is revealed.

I remind myself that it's been only what, 10 minutes since the Games started and I'm not that likely to find water that easily. The Gamemakers might even omit them in the forest to attract tributes to the lake. If that's the case, I'll have to sneak there at night.

I rest for a bit on top of the tree, thinking over my plan. One flaw that I've just realised is that I'll be bored. Very bored. Entertainment isn't exactly a priority when you're in an arena full of kids trying to kill you, but I still don't want to be bored. Still, it's not like I have anything else to do so I just sit on a branch and lean on the trunk. I'll search for water when my pulse calms down from the sprinting.

I think about my family. They're probably both at work. Dad definitely has his mind on me but I'm not sure about my brother. We had an argument about him not taking any tesserae which lead to me taking tesserae for this year which in turn lead to me getting picked for the Hunger Games. I didn't even talk to him when he and Dad visited me in the Justice Building.

Justice. This isn't justice at all. The propaganda the Capitol throws at us. As if any of us really believe it. But I don't think their goal is to actually make us believe it. It's more of an acknowledged oppression, the Hunger Games. Killing your children to make you stay in line. I don't see why it would work, but it does, because they've stood for 74 years already.

The Hunger Games was actually quite an obscure subject for me. I did watch it when I had to, but I generally ignored it even during mandatory watching periods. District 5 is huge; there are plenty of other poorer families which had much larger chances of being picked. So I didn't really pay attention it. Maybe I should have.

I actually could see why people – the Capitol people – would enjoy it. It's like a work of fiction, with intricate love tales and mysterious betrayals and heartbreaking character deaths. Except when you're thrust into it yourself, you don't find it interesting, because you're about to die.

Dying is bad. Obviously. People don't want to die because it's their instinct to survive, so they can reproduce. Now that I think of it, I don't really get how organisms would want to prolong their species. I mean, is existing really worth it? Not that I'm contemplating suicide. I'm not. I just don't get why things would want to start existing. See all this mess it causes.

These delicate leaves on the tree. Adapted so perfectly just to suit the organism that has them. And these branches, and-

I stop my musing, and look directly at the tree to the left of me. Up there, Rue is staring straight at me.

She notices that I have seen her and with some light scuffles, she's gone.

What? That wasn't supposed to happen! I'm supposed to be the one watching the other tributes, being the most knowledgeable about their conditions! I can't let this happen again. What if it wasn't that little girl, but some Careers? I might have died already.

The fast pulse is back again. The resting time wasted. I realise that I've made another terrible decision of staying on the tree. If the Careers had been below me, I couldn't have got away. I'm not like Rue, who can move so fast and silently in the trees.

I climb down carefully. This sure is a big willow- wait, I really am an idiot. Willows only grow near a water source. There must be a water source somewhere!

But I have to stay alert, too. I can't let that happen again. I can't let any tribute sneak up on me. That will completely waste my efforts of finding all the things necessary for survival and give me a direct ticket to death.

The pond is only about twenty trees down from the willow. Now I'm regretting resting there more than ever. I can't rest. This is a battle for survival, not a time for fun and musing. If I'm bored, then so be it.

I drink a few mouthfuls of water (too much will result in some osmoregulatory function of our bodies diluting our urine and wasting it, if I remember from biology class correctly). Then I set off to find some edible plants. After I get that done, I'll check out how the Careers are doing.

My mind focuses surprisingly well on the task, but they're still harder to find and get than I expected, like on some high branches or thorny bushes. I find a handful of berries and nuts by the time it's early afternoon. No one seems to be around this area, but I still try to stay alert. I don't have any type of bag or anything so I eat half of the food while keeping the other half in my left hand. It's not that filling but it'll keep me alive.

I climb another tree with one hand to check for the direction of the Cornucopia, and then I head there on foot. I walk quietly naturally so as long as I don't step on random shrubs I'll be fine. Sometimes I hear shuffling in some bushes, but it always turns out to be wild (well, Capitol created) rabbits or skunks or some other small animal. Now that I think of it, Rue's probably not going to kill me if she finds me, so I don't have to worry about the treetops that much.

I stop when I'm near the edge of the forest. The trees here are smaller and more fragile, so it takes a little while to find a tall one. When I do, I climb it to just overlook the situation at the Cornucopia.

There are a few people moving the supplies at the Cornucopia into a big pile near the lake. Others are standing guard around the open area, completely ignoring the dead bodies that lay sprawled on the ground. I still don't know what's on the other side of the Cornucopia. I'll have to go there to check. Not through the open plains of course, I'll go around within the forest.

I continue watching for a few minutes, and the wait pays off because some figure throws a few knives from below the expanse (I know it's not a cliff now). One of the knives get a Career girl in the chest and another right next to a Career boy. The figure then runs back off while the other Careers chase him. The Career girl is left on the floor, probably dead.

What an idiot. You don't mess with the Careers from the open like that.

None of them comes back when I see a big boy, I think Mr Mellark, run from the woods into the Cornucopia and sneak away some stuff. Seems that he is quite resourceful. A younger boy tries to do the same afterwards but the Careers are back, one of them holding a bloody spear when they notice the younger boy. The younger boy is startled for a second but stops them with a hand and tries and talk to them about something. After some discussion between the Careers they accept him, and for some reason, start digging up the dirt around the Cornucopia.

So the person that killed the Career girl is probably dead too. I can't say I think he deserves it, but he really is stupid for trying. But at least that's two more people down. Mr Mellark (I can't even remember his first name anymore) seems surprisingly sneaky for such a big guy. I don't get what the other boy is trying to do but if it makes the Careers let him join the alliance then I better keep an eye on him. Why are they digging the dirt, anyway? To fill up the lake? To uncover some hidden treasure?

It suddenly clicks that they're trying to get to the mines. I give out a laugh at how absurd the idea is before covering my mouth.

I'm not supposed to muse and be unaware of my surroundings! I'm supposed to stay quiet and elusive! I shake my head again and survey my surroundings before trying to climbing down, but with one hand it's too hard so I just stuff the rest of the food in my mouth. I regret it immediately and have to pick out a few leaves and twigs. I guess I'm not supposed to be so picky but leaves and branches don't have much nutrition and aren't really and worth eating. They probably require more energy to digest than they give, like celery.

I shake my mind off irrelevant subjects again and then jump off the pine. I head left, making a circle around the Cornucopia. It's quite risky, especially since I know Mr Mellark is somewhere, but I'll easily spot him before he spots me.

I hear some small talk from the Careers, which is actually pretty good since it keeps me alert. I walk around a boy with a crippled foot – from District 10, I think – who is resting by himself. It doesn't take long for me to get to quite a steep downward slope, in which I try and reach to the edge of the forest. Climbing up another tree, I see a massive field of… what is it? Tall grass? In any case, hiding in there is probably not a good idea since you won't notice other people until they are very close, and I don't exactly run fast.

I jump back down and head back up the hill. I go around the District 10 boy (who is apparently just staying there, doing nothing), and back to the tree I was at before. Another quick climb tells me that they've stopped digging for the moment and are back to moving supplies.

I'm on my way back to the willow when the cannons fire. I've been expecting them, so it doesn't startle me, unlike once I've seen in an earlier Games where the boy from 9 got startled by a cannon which made the girl from 4 find him and spear him through his chest.

I think it's not very reasonable to fire them this late. The actual bloodbath doesn't last that long. The Gamemakers can definitely count the number of deaths after the first five minutes or so. It's just that the other tributes keep on attempting to somehow best the Careers on the first day, and that's what really kills them, not the starting bloodbath. They have gotten lucky in the past, but most of the time they just die. My guess is that the Gamemakers are making feigning death easier for tributes – it's happened before – but then that doesn't make sense since after the first day the cannons fire immediately which prevents the strategy from working.

What does it matter, anyway? It's an event where children murder each other. I don't think this kind of detail is really important, at least not to me, whose primary concern is not to muse about random stuff. Because of this stupid musing I didn't even count the number of cannons. Ugh. I'll count the number of people the anthem plays.

I gather some more food – they're not very filling – before I decide to settle on that willow tree again, because there's not much else to do. I've picked the food clean from this area, anyway. It's quite high so it's very unlikely that anyone but Rue will find me, and she's not a threat. A problem is that I might fall down, so I just lie on my stomach on a particularly large branch. Maybe I could tie my hair to the branches? That's just silly.

No, I'm not going to think about irrelevant stuff again. Keep an eye and an ear out for things.

I do get bored after a while but I fix my mind on observing what's around me. I hear some footsteps to the right of me but it doesn't get close so I stay on the tree. By the time the sky is getting darker, I'm somewhat hungry again. Oh well, I'll get food tomorrow.

I'm staring at the veins of a leaf when the anthem starts playing. I promptly force myself up and climb higher so I can see the faces of the dead tributes more easily. I'm even clumsier since my muscles seem to be somewhat tired. Physical activity was never my forte, and probably never will be.

My hair brushes against my face after leaping onto a particularly hard-to-reach branch and I realise that this red hair isn't very good for camouflage. I tuck it into the back of my shirt hastily and continue climbing.

The photos have already started appearing and I catch a glimpse of the girl from 1 – I guess that's who the knife boy got. The girl from 3 appears as I reach the top. The boy from 4. Two Careers down, four to go. My district partner. I don't know him, so I shouldn't care. Both from 6, both from 7. Boy only from 8. Both from 9, and the girl from 10.

12. Half of us are out. Somehow Districts 11 and 12 retain both of their tributes, and they are also the two districts with the two twelve-year-old girls. Interesting.

Shaking my head before my mind starts getting off track again, I climb down. I lie back onto the branch and close my eyes, trying to supress my hunger.

I try not to think about anything before realising it's futile if all I see is blackness. So I think about how Dad is faring, if my brother really does really want me to go die, Rue swinging through trees, and boom there's a cannon.

I'm startled only slightly before I reposition myself on the trunk. My muscles are slightly sore, but I try and just look around a bit in case the death was near here. I hope it's not Rue or Primrose. Another cannon sounds and I force myself to notice that there's some smoke in the distance. So someone lit a fire and now two people are dead because of it.

I stretch slightly and go back to my original position because I don't see any other way I can lie down without risking falling off. Then I realise it's very cold, but I just ignore it because I can't really do anything about it for the moment. And the next moment I'm aware of is that I'm awake and very hungry. And the sun is very bright.

My hair has fallen out of my shirt. I picture myself lying on this branch and the resulting image is a tribute that is incredibly easy to spot thanks to this hair. Really, evolution should have weeded out these types of hair colours. But it's a gene mutation so I guess evolution doesn't have much to do with this…

Whatever, I don't think hair colour affects your ability to find food. I'm really hungry now. I head off slightly and gather more nuts and berries but even after shoving down two handfuls I'm still quite hungry.

This doesn't seem very good. My elusive tactics will all go to waste if I starve to death. And clearly, these plants aren't giving me enough energy to keep going. Still, I can survive a few days without food, so that's plenty of time to plan for getting more food.

I can't think of anything plausible other than stealing from the Careers. It's terribly dangerous but it'll have to do. Mr Mellark did it successfully, so I should be smart enough to do it too, right?

After drinking some more water from the pond, I head in the direction of the Cornucopia and climb the pine without much thought. The holes they dug are filled up very roughly, and I see they've moved the supplies to the lake. There's a few people at the lake. Well, I'm definitely not stealing anything in this broad daylight. I should stay near there, though, just to watch them.

I find large bush at the edge of the forest and I hide half-behind, half-inside it while peeking through. I can hear a little of what the Careers say, and I can see what they're doing. Actually, not "they" because all I see is one boy. I think he's from District 3, and he's on the floor and both of his hands are inside a pit which I can't see from this angle. A while later he covers up the pit and moves on to another one.

I can't believe he's reassembling the mines. No wonder the Careers let him in their group.

Now stealing the food will be a lot harder. I decide that since I'm not going to be stealing anything anytime soon, I should just find some more plants to eat.

I decide it's pretty unsafe at the edge of the forest and move back to the tall pine. From there, I gather some more food, which makes me somewhat less hungry. After overlooking the situation again, I see that the boy had finished reactivating all the mines and is sitting at their camp. Well, they're going to have to get supplies sometime soon, so they'd definitely be able to access it. I'll just have to observe them, so I head back in the direction of the lake.

I rethink all my actions so far and realise that I have been pretty lucky not to die. I'm not fast, if I'd been spotted that would mean death automatically. I really need to be more cautious if I really want to go home.

Or maybe I shouldn't. To go home means the death of 23 more people. Well, 11- no, 9 more people, after the deaths that have already happened. And out of those 9 include two twelve-year-old girls that I really don't think I want dead. I mean, logically I should want them dead for my survival, but this stupid empathy of mine. Now that just makes me sound even more amoral.

I let out a grunt of frustration. Immediately I realise it's a horrible idea and turn around, expecting someone to hear me and hunt me down. But all I see is a light figure hide behind a tree.

What? I've been unaware this whole time! I can't be unaware! Anger overtakes my sense and I rush to see who exactly it was.

And I find myself staring into the eyes of Primrose Everdeen.


	3. Lying

"I won't do anything to you, I promise."

Primrose backs up against a tree, but she doesn't run away.

"I don't have any weapons. In fact, I don't have anything." I spread my hands out and do a spin. "See? I'm perfectly safe."

I'm not sure why I'm doing this and not running, myself. Maybe it's because she's seen me already. Maybe it's because she's just a little girl like Rue and no threat to me. It doesn't matter. She's not running away either, is she? And she has more of a reason to. I should get things done without questioning the motives.

No way I'm approaching her just like this, though. She might stab me with a stick or something. "I think it's better if you calm down a bit. Where's Mr Mellark?"

Her face stays tense as she lets out a whisper. "It's Peeta."

The way her face tenses tells me that the question isn't exactly calming her down. But I continue with the question anyway, out of curiosity. "So where's Peeta?"

She gives me a look that is clearly questioning what the hell I'm doing, but she answers. "He died."

I'm a little surprised, although I should have expected something like that from her. Well, I suppose I should feel happy for a big contestant to die; but I'm really starting to feel bad seeing Primrose's reaction.

Since I'm already going far enough to talk to her (and I know I'm not going to be able to kill her, stupid empathy) I might as well get her to feel better. "You'll be fine, though." I move closer tentatively as she seems to calm down. "Really, everything's alright." I put my right hand on her shoulder. She grabs it and for a moment I think I'm about to die to the hands of a 12-year-old girl but she just holds on very tightly.

She stays still for a while which gives me time to think. No point complaining about empathy, I'm not going to kill her, which means I'm stuck with her. Or maybe I can abandon her, but I don't think she'd pose any threat – she's small and quiet and a possible distraction for people chasing me. She is another mouth to feed, but she doesn't look malnourished at all right now. Maybe it's just that she's smaller and needs less energy. Maybe she has some special technique about gathering food I could learn. I guess she'd also solve my "bored" problem. Everything indicates that she is okay to be with.

It's just the idea that she'll have to die in front of me if I want to win that chills me.

She seems to be back to normal by now (or as one could get at the moment), so I say, "Standing around the Cornucopia isn't safe. Let's move away." I can think about the food later. I remember myself thinking how I was lucky to get this far without bumping into anyone while being so near the Careers.

I decide to lead her back to the tree; the food is still easily accessible (distance wise) and we're pretty well concealed. She doesn't say anything and holds onto my arm the whole way which was slightly annoying but who cares, she's 12.

She climbs up quite nimbly for someone her size. Probably even better than me. I follow her up to the top after glancing around for other possible tributes. We're sitting next to each other on two branches approximately the same level with our legs hanging down when my stomach grumbles.

I probably should be checking how the Careers get the food right now, but I'm really curious about Primrose, and plus, what she knows might help with the food problem.

"So Primrose-" I start but stop instantly due to her looking startled. "Uh, what's wrong?"

She shakes her head lightly. "No one ever calls me… Primrose. Everyone calls me Prim." She turns her head to me. "What do I call you? I forgot… don't know your name."

Good news. My plan on being unnoticed worked. But a little part of me is mad at her for not paying attention to me. So "What do you want to call me?" comes out of my mouth in a slightly disdainful and sarcastic way.

I don't think she hears the words because she's just startled again. I guess she doesn't think anything that isn't dead serious is appropriate for this situation. "Come on, lighten up," I say cheerfully. "Give me a nickname."

She smiles lightly. "Is it okay if I call you… uh, Foxface? That's… what I called you in my head."

I chuckle at the name. I guess normal people would be offended but I think it sounds cool, alliteration and all. "That's nice." Her face goes confused again as if trying to detect sarcasm in my statement. I add quickly, "No seriously, call me that. I like it."

She smiles again, more sincerely this time. "Okay, Foxface."

We sit in silence for a bit before I realise she's not going to speak. Well, I should've realised by now that she doesn't seem like the talkative type anyway.

So I decide to go back to what I was going to say. "Well, basically, the plan is to just sit by and let those buff Careers kill themselves off. We can easily survive just by gathering plants the and stealing from the Careers' food pile."

Some little part of me is screaming at myself – if that even makes sense – for just telling her everything like this, but… I made the decision to have her with me in the first place, and that didn't make much sense either.

"That's nice." Her voice is soft and sweet, like an angel. Maybe this is why. People seem to empathise with little girls rather than… say, an adult man. I don't even really get why. Whatever. I'm getting bored of these inward thoughts.

"So, Primro- I mean Prim, what is it like in Twelve?"

"…Well, nothing much, really. We just mine coal. We eat… we eat normal things. Tessera grain and oil."

I'm a little annoyed about the fact that what she said didn't solve my boredom at all, but then suppress it because that's just selfish. "Is that all? You don't help in your industry or anything?" I say in a casual voice.

"We're not allowed in the coal mines until we're eighteen. We just go to school. What about you?"

"Me? Well, our industry is power. We don't help that much either; it's quite dangerous, handling electricity. But I've learnt about sciences which is emphasised in school there; even the non-power related biology. It helped me make some random decisions which might have turned out to be useful. Still, I helped my brother occasionally…" I break off from my ramble upon the mention of my brother.

"You have a brother? I wish I had one, too. Not that I don't like my sister, but a house full of girls is quite boring…"

"What about your father?" I say immediately, glad to stop talking about siblings.

Her eyes flicker to the side for a moment. "He got killed in a mine accident. No, you don't need to apologise," She adds as I open my mouth. "It was five years ago. I've been over it for a long time."

"Just like my mother, then. Except she died last year, because she got ill and we didn't have enough food to make her well…"

She seems like she's going to apologise, then stops herself as if she realised that would be hypocritical.

I try and steer the topic away from any sensitive areas (again). "Anyway, so your Mum mines for both of you?"

"No, not-" She stops for a moment. "Well, yes, technically. She just doesn't do the industry's job, that's all."

I can tell that she's hiding something, and for the first time since I've met Prim I remember that we're being monitored ever so closely by Capitol eyes, and that we won't be able to speak just anything we want here.

I sigh. I was feeling quite happy with her just here and chatting without much worry. And now I'm reminded about the Capitol and the Games and that we can die easily if things go wrong.

"Don't worry," I answer quickly as she looks as if she's afraid of having offended me. "It's just that I remembered something; we can't steal the food easily as you think." She seems surprised again at the sudden topic change, but she doesn't comment on it. Good, our personalities don't seem to clash, which is another nice thing about her.

"It's not just that someone might see us," I explain further, "The District Three boy has done something with the mines around their food pile and it'll be hard to reach."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Then we should just rely on berries. It'll be too dangerous."

"No, it won't be enough food. Didn't Peeta get some food for you from the pile, as well? The fruits here won't have enough energy to keep us going for long, especially since we need to be very careful in the arena. We have to get food from the Careers. Don't worry, though, they'll have to be able to access their own food as well, so we'll just have to copy them."

I like how we're already working together even though we didn't clearly make an alliance or anything. And we haven't even met for half an hour.

Suddenly, she averts her eyes for a bit, and blurts out, "How do I know you're not going to kill me in my sleep?"

What? I would never! I'm about to throw a string of insults at her when I realise her fear is justified. I mean, would people really be so nice to a 12-year-old girl when they're participating in the Hunger Games?

"I won't."

It's clearly not enough to console her. I start to get frustrated again. "Look, if I really wanted you dead I would have killed you by now. I'm not strong for my age, but I have three years of growth over you. And even if I weren't strong enough for you, I'd just run away if I wanted you dead. Really, don't you think the chances of survival would be higher with two people?"

She looks convinced, but she still says in a small voice, as if her instinct is still not to trust me, "But… how do I know you're not lying about that?"

My voice softens. "I'm not. I promise."


End file.
